Name: Baybak Semyon Olegovich
Date of Birth: May 14, 1997
Current status: convicted person
Articles of Criminal Code of Russian Federation: 282.2 (2), 282.3 (1)
Time spent in prison: 1 day in a temporary detention facility, 559 day Under house arrest
Current restrictions: suspended sentence
Sentence: punishment of 3 years 6 months of imprisonment with restriction of liberty for 1 year; The sentence of imprisonment shall be considered conditional with a probationary period of 4 years and 6 months

Biography

In June 2019, Semyon Baybak from Rostov-on-Don was placed under house arrest. A year later, the court found him guilty of participating in and financing extremist activities. The believer was sentenced to 3.5 years of suspended imprisonment with a probationary period of 4.5 years. The Court of Appeal upheld the verdict.

Semyon was born in 1997 in Rostov-on-Don, where he lived all his life. He has an elder brother and sister. Since childhood, he is fond of poetry and the Chinese language, works as a tutor of the Chinese language.

Even at primary school age, Semyon discovered the world of the Bible, in which he found wise advice. Later, under the influence of Christian convictions, he asked for the replacement of military service with an alternative civilian one, which he performed from 2015 to 2017 at the Regional Children's Clinical Hospital as a territory cleaner.

Semyon's relatives and friends are worried and outraged by the unfair criminal prosecution of a man who not only did nothing wrong, but once proved to the state the peace-loving nature of his religion.

Case History

Semyon Baibak from Rostov-on-Don spent more than 1.5 years under house arrest. The criminal case against the 22-year-old believer has been under investigation since June 2019. Investigator Kalnitsky accused him of participating in and financing extremist activities. According to investigators, Semyon participated in religious meetings, made donations, and talked about God with those who were not Jehovah’s Witnesses. The believer spent a day in a temporary detention center, after which the court sent him under house arrest. Court hearings began in September 2020. It took the judge three months to consider the criminal case of Semyon Baibak. The prosecutor requested a sentence of 4 years of suspended imprisonment and 5 years of probation. On June 21, 2020, the Leninskiy District Court found him guilty under both articles and sentenced him to 3.5 years of suspended imprisonment with a probation period of 4.5 years. The appeal and cassation upheld the verdict.
Back to top